


Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood:    The Forbidden Forest

by Like_Earth_and_Wind



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22079617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Like_Earth_and_Wind/pseuds/Like_Earth_and_Wind
Summary: In the aftermath of the Second Wizarding War, Harry Potter and his friends try to deal with the impact of the war has had on the world and on themselves. But no one is having a harder then Hermione Granger who seems to have disappeared.Board Number 24 of the New Year New Board Collection
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48
Collections: New Year New Mood board





	Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood:    The Forbidden Forest

Chapter One: The Haunted Home

Harry Potter rose from his bed at The Burrow. He reached for his glasses on his bedside table and put them on. He looked around the room, Fred and George's room. The room had been untouched since they left after opening their joke shop. Whether out of motherly sentiment on Mrs. Weasley’s account or a general fear of setting off some prank item they had been working on. Now, Harry suspected, nobody wanted to come near the room, especially George. Harry wouldn’t have stayed in the room if there was another option but he wanted to give Ron his space, who’s room Harry usually slept in. It also gave Hermione a chance to sneak into his room at night so the two could have some privacy together, which was hard to come by in The Burrow.

Harry rose from his bed and got dressed, it was often a challenge considering he had to carefully move about the room without disturbing anything. Any seemingly simple object like a box of candies or even the rug could very well be loaded with some jinx or a large number of pre-armed fireworks. The first night he stayed in the room after the battle he tried setting a clock to wake up and became the victim of a horn tongue hex. He ran out of the room and it took a good 5 minutes for the Weasley’s to figure out the proper counterspell. Everyone had laughed to tears about the ordeal. But almost immediately after the family set into an even deeper gloom which has remained ever since.

Harry grabbed his wand and got to the door without disturbing anything. He looked back into the room, he saw the two beds of the twins, the mess of scattered items, some obvious and others more subtle in the danger the possessed. Then he looked at his trunk and the empty cage on top of the dresser. Much like how the Weasleys won’t come near this room, Harry hadn’t been able to bring himself to do anything about the cage. Harry felt the tears starting to swell in his eyes and left the room.

Harry stepped into the hallway, Ron’s room was across the hall and sat both messy and empty. Ron, like most people in The Burrow, was not sleeping well at all and often used first light as an excuse to stop his tossing and turning. As Harry began walking downstairs he noticed how completely quiet the house still was. Harry hated it, the Burrow used to be so full of life and magic, now it could be mistaken for abandoned. Harry made it downstairs and saw Mrs. Weasley sitting at the window. Just starting outside.

“Good morning, Mrs. Weasley.”

She turned with a gasp, “Oh! Harry dear, you gave me a fright.”

“I’m sorry, let me get started on breakfast.”

Mrs. Weasly jumped up off her chair, “Oh for heaven’s sake, breakfast! How silly of me, I forgot again.”

“It’s no trouble, I can take care of it.” Harry pulled out his wand to enchant the kitchen.

“Oh no no. Let me, it’s good for me to keep busy.” Mrs. Weasley said, as she pulled out her own wand and walked passed Harry into the kitchen. “Your sweet to offer though. Why don’t you go check on Ron and Hermione? I’ll call once everything is ready, dear.”

Mrs. Weasley waved her wand and the kitchen sprang to life. The pots flew off the shelves and onto the stove that lit itself and the eggs and toast and butter all appeared from within the pantry and made their way to the stove. Harry put away his wand and walked to the back door.

“Um, Harry?”

“Yes, Mrs. Weasley?”

“How are they doing? How is Ron?”

Mrs. Weasley hadn’t asked this of Harry yet and it caught him a little off guard. How did she think he was doing?

“About the same as everyone else I’d imagine.”

“Yes, well, of course. Thank you, dear. Your such a good boy, thank you for being here for the family.”

Harry felt a pain in his chest as she said this and he could feel the tears swelling in his eyes again, which he held back the best he could. Harry walked over to Mrs. Weasley and hugged her tightly. He could hear her muffled sniffles in his shoulder. Harry couldn’t help it, a couple of tears came streaming down his face and they just hugged for a little while. When they finally let go Harry could see Mrs. Weasly’s face was red and her cheeks were wet with tears.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m such a mess over everything.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about, I am too.” Harry took off his fogey glasses and wiped them on his shirt before replacing them on his face.

Mrs. Weasley took a deep breath, “Thank you. Ok, let me get started on breakfast. Go on, I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

Chapter Two: The Light over the Hill

Harry stepped out into the chilly morning air. He looked around the property to see the damage after the death eater attack at Bill and Fleur’s wedding. It had been somewhat repaired by Bill and Charlie but they left after George’s disappearance a couple of days after the Battle of Hogwarts. Mr. Weasley has done a little work here and there but he almost immediately became bogged down by work. It was all hands on deck at The Ministry right now. According to the Daily Prophet, the wizarding world was in chaos. Thousands of employees were not showing up for work either because they had been killed, injured, cursed by the few surviving death eaters on the run, home with grieving families, or otherwise, missing. The Ministry was not immune to this and was still having trouble sorting out the chaos at near half strength.

Harry saw Ron sitting in his usual spot in the middle of the field, watching the horizon. No Hermione though, which was odd. Harry walked up to Ron and sat beside him.

“Hey, Ron.”

“Hey, mate… Your eyes are all red, are you ok?

“Ya, were is Hermione?”

“She is probably still walking around London.”

Hermione seemed to be dealing with everything better than everyone else. She would wake up early. Make her bed, and apperate into London to pick up morning coffee and the latest copy of the Daily Prophet. The Daily Prophet was also struggling under the lack of manpower and could barely manage to get the paper printed every morning let alone sort out each subscription for each individual owl. Hermione has been everyone’s rock.

Ron shrugged, “Or maybe she’s sleeping in for once. I don’t know how she is managing to keep so busy.”

“How are you doing?”

Ron paused, “Did you know Lavender Brown was killed? At Hogwarts?”

Harry froze, Lavender was in there year and was Ron’s first girlfriend back in year 4. He hadn’t known she died, or why he didn’t know. Harry looked at Ron and noticed how purple the bags under his eyes were becoming.

Ron took a long sigh, “I heard it on the radio this morning. I didn’t want to bring it up with Hermione obviously. Bloody hell, Harry. So many people died. The names on the radio aren’t slowing down all that much either.”

There was a long pause, Harry didn’t know what to say. What do you say when something like this happens? Keeps happening? Harry wished he had something helpful to say but in his experience words were rarely comforting at times like this. Wise maybe, but not comforting.

Ron sat up, “I’ve been thinking, maybe we should get back out there.”

Harry was not expecting that. Ron sounded more confident than he had in days.

“Really?”

“Ya, I’m sick of sitting around feeling terrible. I’d rather be at the ministry, becoming proper aurors and hunting down the last of the death eaters. They’d have to let us advance really quickly. We stopped Voldemort together after all. Do you think it’s a good idea?”

Was it a good idea? Harry had been sick of all this feeling sorry for themselves. He understood it, but couldn’t be happier to get out of this new gloomy version of The Burrow. “I think it’s a load's better idea than sitting around here all day.”

Ron smiled and looked better then he had in months.

“Breakfast is ready.”

They both turned to see Ginny, she was in a knitted jumper with a large “G” on the front. Harry was always happy to see her, though she was also coping slowly with the rest of her family she had been a bright spot for Harry in all the sadness everyone was feeling.

“I haven’t seen Hermione. Do you two know where she is?”

Chapter 3 The Forgotten Witch

Hermione appeared out of thin air on a suburban street on the outskirts of London. Her eyes were puffed up slightly and her cheeks were marked by tears. She hadn’t been on this street in nearly a year now. She walked down the cobblestones of one of the houses to the front door and raised her wand to unlock the door. But before she unlocked the door she noticed something in the window. She peeked in to see a family of four that she did not recognize. The couple on the couch couldn’t have been more than 10 years older than herself and neither of the boys in front of the television could be older than 5. Hermione was confused, then felt slightly panicked.

Hermione knocked on the door and put away her wand.

The man she did not recognize came to the door, “Good morning, how can I help you?”

“Um, yes, good morning. I’m looking for mister and misses, um, Wilkins.”

The man looked puzzled, “Mister and misses Wilkins? I don’t think- Oh yes, of course. The Wilkins. I’m sorry, the haven’t lived here for near 4 months now.”

“Do you know where they are now?” Had they moved? Of course they had moved. Hermione couldn’t believe how stupid she had been not to think this could happen.

“I’m afraid I wouldn’t know. We bought the house through a realtor so we never actually conversed with them.”

“You’re certain?” Hermione said through a shaky voice.

“Yes, I am afraid so. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No.”

“Alright, have a good day.” The Man said as he closed the door.

* * * * *

Hermione apparated in front of the steps of Hagrid’s hut. She felt heavy and she couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down her face. She walked up the steps and knock on the door. It creaked open as she knocked but the hut was empty, not even Fang was home. Hermione dropped her wand at the threshold and walked over to Hagrid’s couch and fell onto it. She just cried and cried for what felt like forever, her parents were gone and she had no idea where they went. It was as if she was truly feeling the toll of the entire war all at once, all alone, on Hagrid’s chewed up couch. Her constant brushes with death, the torture she endured from Bellatrix Lestrange, the deaths of her classmates and friends, the fear, the anger, and now her parents were gone. It all was too much. So Hermione curled up into a little ball and sobbed.

* * * * *

Hermione woke up with a blanket over her and her wand in her hand. She looked around the room to find no one. It must have been late in the day by now, near sunset. Who put this blanket on her? She could hear the crackling of a fire outside the hut.

“Hagrid?” Hermione asked quietly.

She got off the couch feeling rather stiff and wiped her face. Hermione made her way outside to find the last person she expected to see sitting on Hagrid's log bench by the large fire.

“Hello, Hermione. You’re looking quite melancholy today,” said Luna Lovegood in her usual airy voice.

She was wearing pink boots and an oversized trench coat on. It was brown and had holes in some places. Hermione guessed it might have belonged to Hagrid when he was younger and smaller. Luna’s long blonde hair flowed down under two long braids that her wand stuck through it. It was all a very strange combination and not all that unexpected for Luna.

“Luna? What are you doing here?”

“I’m doing my internship with Hagrid of course.”

An internship? With Hagrid? It had to be the most peculiar time for anyone to even be thinking of an internship. Even Hermione, who was always on top of things with her academics, hadn’t even considered searching for one. The Ministry’s Board of Education put out an explicit statement that said all internship and work applications wouldn’t even be accepted for consideration for at least another month while everything was still being sorted out. Hermione also knew Luna never liked Hagrid as a teacher.

Hermione walked over to the bench Luna was sitting on. “Luna, why are you doing your internship? The ministry clearly stated they weren’t considering internships.”

Luna continued to look up at Hermione with her big dreamy eyes, “Well, I didn’t feel much like being at home. Daddy hasn’t been himself since he was released from Azkaban after it was taken back from the Death Eaters. He is living with some relatives for the time being. I think he feels bad over trying to turn you, Ron, and Harry, over to the Death Eaters.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Luna.” Hermione sat on the opposite end of the short bench.

“That’s alright, I told everyone forgave him but I don’t think it made him feel any better. Hagrid says he just needs some time to sort everything out in his head.”

Hermione realized Hagrid was probably the best person Luna could have come to. Hagrid was wrongfully imprisoned in Azkaban prison for a short time back in Hermione’s 3rd year. She remembered how hard it was for Hagrid to deal with the short time he had spent there. Luna’s father must be in a bad way.

“I’m surprised you ended up here, with Hagrid. I thought you didn’t like Hagrid very much.”

Luna diverted her big eyes from Hermione to the fire, “Well, I never disliked him really. But I didn’t think he was a very good teacher at Hogwarts. But it seems like he needs help right now sorting out everything in the forest. Everyone’s got Wrackspurts in their ears these days with putting the Wizarding World back together and nobody but Hagrid seems to be concerned for all the creatures that were affected. He is really good with creatures when he isn’t in the classroom. I’ve been learning a lot.”

“So where is Hagrid?”

“Well, he needed to go away for a couple of days. Something to do with the giants and that he’d be back soon. It couldn’t be at a worse time really. I think something’s hunting creatures in the forest.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes, I’ve noticed a lot more creatures in the forest have been aware of the Thestrals. I have also found a large number of stags that have been eaten and are missing their antlers. It’s really unfortunate.” Luna made a long sigh, “I thought it might have been a new aggressive kind of Nargle. But they don’t eat meat, it was rather disappointing.”

All Hermione could think was that this girl was completely mental. “I could use your help, Hermione. You’re really good at finding things after all.”

“I am?”

“Oh yes, you helped find all the Horcruxes. Harry told me you’ve saved him loads of times too. I more need your help with finding the creature who is making these attacks. But, I could always use some saving too if I run into an Acromantulas web or a heard of grumpy Centaurs.”

This made Hermione smile and maybe a little warm. But that might have just been the fire she thought. “Ok, Luna. Let's go find your creature.”

Chapter 4 The Secret World of Luna Lovegood

“Thank you, Hermione.” Luna began to take off her shoes and boots. “We better go. It's getting late.”

Hermione was taken aback by this. Surely she couldn’t be asking Hermione to do the same. “You want me to go walking through the Forbidden Forest? Barefoot? In search of a dangerous creature.”

“Yes, you don’t want to disturb the Regalsnaples.” Hermione was quickly being reminded of why Luna used to be known as “Loony Lovegood”. She was always trying to find creatures no one had ever heard of and doing these strange things. Hermione was instantly full of regret for agreeing to help Luna on one of her imaginary creature hunts.

“Regalsnaples? Are you serious?” Hermione stood up and folded her arms, “They aren’t real, Luna. They are only in children’s books.”

Luna’s brow tightened and she lost the dreamy quality in her voice, “They are real, I have seen them in the forest.”

“I doubt that.” Hermione scoffed

“It’s true!” Luna said in a somewhat cold and offended voice. “Just because you didn’t read about them in a school book doesn’t mean they aren’t real. They were one of the first creatures I met here at Hogwarts, after the Thestrals of course.” It’s true that upon first meeting Luna in fourth year Hermione was quick to disbelieve the existence of Thestrals. In till she read about them in a book and was forced to fly on the back of one later that year.

“That may be so, but in my experience, any time I have had to go into the forbidden forest I usually find myself needing to run from something dangerous. I don’t want to hurt my feet.” Hermione was not conceding on this point.

“Well don’t say I didn’t warn you when they start biting your knee caps,” Luna said with a frown. She pulled her wand out of her braid and put out the fire with a flick then replaced it in her hair. She turned and starting walking into the forest.

Hermione followed and looked around. It felt like a lifetime since she had been in the forest. Some of the tall dark trees looked like they had been hit by boulders. Many more had broken and fallen over as if Grawp had had several temper tantrums. The number of destroyed trees let more light through the canapé above. It was both relieving to see and also sad, the battle had caused a lot of destruction.

“Luna?” Hermione asked after several minutes of walking over the fallen tree trunks. Luna looked back at Hermione with a dreamy smile in acknowledgement as she carefully stepped around twigs and stones. “What exactly are we looking for?”

“The Regalsnaples of course. They know a lot about what happens in the forest. Second only to the Cenatar’s I imagine. But the Regalsnaples are far less dangerous and not as grumpy if you understand their sense of etiquette very well.”

Hermione couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

The two continued to walking for a little while in till Luna stopped very suddenly on a patch of moss beside a tall tree. She turned to look at Hermione. “We are almost here. You really should take off your shoes. They probably won’t help us if you don’t.”

Hermione was very annoyed but conceded. Hermione pulled off her shoes and socks and carried them in her hand. Luna smiled widely then pulled out her wand and twirled it a couple of times. Her clothing all spun around her in a flash and returned to her body. She was now wearing a loose and long white lace dress with flower patterns. The little flowers grouped together to cover her most revealing features but were mostly see-through otherwise. Hermione couldn’t help but admire how beautiful she looked.

“Wow.” slipped passed Hermione’s lips before she could catch herself.

Luna suddenly looked surprised at Hermione, then very happy, “Oh you like it? I’m a little embarrassed to wear something like this. But, the Regalsnaples won’t acknowledge a witch in their court not wearing a white dress.”

“Yes, it’s, um, very nice.” Hermione was a little embraced. “Will the Regalsnaples be upset since I’m not wearing a white dress.”

Hermione couldn’t believe the words that just came out of her mouth.

Luna looked a little puzzled, “I guess you should wear one. Do you have a white dress?”

“No. I can just wait here and while-“

“That’s alright, I learned a dressmaking spell form, Professor McGonagall, in my fourth year. It’s much more convenient than having to pack multiple dresses for the year.”

Hermione was shocked to learn that Luna could perform such a complex transfiguration spell in only her fourth year. Luna flicked her wand around in the air and before Hermione could object, her clothing all loosened then swirled a couple of inches away from her body faster than she could see. Her wand appeared in her hand as all her clothes meshed together and changed colours into white and finally they tightening onto her as a long white lace dress similar to Luna’s. The design was similar but instead of little flowers, the lace was decorated with otters that lined the ends of the dress and clustered to cover Hermione’s chest and lower body.

“You also look ‘Wow’, Hermione.” Luna admired Hermione’s dress as she put her wand away. “Do you like the Otter’s? I remembered that was your Patronus.”

Hermione was scarlet red and had her hands and arms covering as much of her body as she could, “Does it need to be so revealing?”

“No, I suppose not. But the Regasnaples seem to like it. They are very picky.” Luna grabbed Hermione’s hand, “Now make sure you do exactly as I do.”

Luna pulled Hermione passed the large tree they were standing beneath and into a large mossy clearing that orange sunlight poured into from the open canopy of trees above. There were about three thick tree trunks positioned around the clearing with little seats carved into them. They reminded Hermione of how the courtrooms at the Ministry looked. Luna positioned Hermione near the centre of the clearing and Luna stood beside her. Suddenly, out of thin air, the Regalsnaples appeared in their seats.

Hermione couldn’t believe her eyes. They appeared exactly as they did in books. They were very short with stubby thin limbs, had pale blue skin, disproportionately large and round heads and big eyes. They all wore little stick crowns. The one who sat in the centre had the biggest stick crown, a cape made of moss, and a wand. Hermione was in shock, Luna wasn’t metal, the Regalsnaples were real! About a dozen Regalsnaples sat on their logs and watched Hermione with anticipation.

“Ok, Hermione, now we dance for the king.”

Chapter 5 By the Wisdom of the Regalsnaple Council

“We what?” Hermione whispered frantically without daring to move from her position in the clearing.

“Just do what I do, and make sure to have fun,” Luna said.

Luna put her arms in the air and began to spin, swatting at the air slightly with her hands. Hermione looked at Luna in disbelief, then at the centre Regalsnaple in equal disbelief. The Regalsnaple snorted at her and rose his wand into the air. Hermione immediately began dancing in the same way Luna was. She felt ridiculous.

Luna changed her dance moves in the reverse motion. Hermione copied. Luna looked absolutely pleased with herself and giggled when she and Hermione’s eyes met. Hermione couldn’t hold her unimpressed exterior and began to giggle as they met eyes as well. She felt so ridiculous but couldn’t deny she was having a bit of fun.

Luna then changed the dance so the two were skipping in circles around each other. Then Luna had them flap their folded arms like they were birds. Luna stuck her tongue out and made a silly face at the court of Regalsnaples and they all laughed. Hermione rolled her eyes and did the same. The court was beside themselves pleased. Luna laughed hysterically with them and Hermione couldn’t help but do the same. Some were even dancing on their logs.

“I don’t usually like dancing, but the Regalsnaples always make it fun!” Luna said through laboured breath as she changed to dancing to spinning like a ballerina on her tippy toes. Hermione followed and the two began to spin as fast as they could. Hermione could feel herself getting dizzy.

“Don’t give up, a couple more seconds!” Hermione heard Luna say. Hermione kept spinning as long as she could and looked up at the sky through the forest canopy. The trees spun all around her for what felt like a very long time in till she felt herself losing control. Hermione tried to keep going then stumbled onto the mossy ground. This rose another wave of laughter into the air.

Luna fell right beside her almost immediately, her face was red from all the dancing and her eyes were spinning much like Hermione’s from all the dizziness. The two laughed hysterically and all the forest was filled with the sound of two witches and a court of imaginary creatures laughing their hearts out.

Hermione found she was finally recovering from the spinning. Through laboured breath, she said, “That was brilliant, I haven’t danced like that since I was a little girl.”

Luna sat up, “Why have you waited so long to do it again?”

“I suppose, I became busy with Hogwarts and helping Harry fight Voldemort.” The sound of his name slowly brought the real world back to Hermione. She remembered the war all the fighting and the death and now her parents, who are gone.

“You look so sad again, Hermione.”

Hermione sat up and looked at Luna, “Of course I’m sad. Aren’t you sad?

“Sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” For some reason this made Hermione’s blood boil. “All the people who have died, the battle at Hogwarts, all the friends we lost, the Death Eaters, the ministry going mad. How are you not sad all the time?”

“Well, after my Mom died I was sad for a long time.”

“After your mom died?”

“Yes, I was very young when she died. One of her spells backfired.”

It made sense to Hermione now, why Luna had been able to see Thestrsals since they first met. Then she began to feel extraordinarily guilty for getting mad at Luna, “Oh, Luna. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s ok.” Luna put her hand on Hermione’s, “I’m sorry too.”

Hermione looked in Luna’s eyes. For some reason, Luna had made Hermione feel a little better.

Hermione felt something poke her back. She turned to see the Regalsnaple with the wand and tall crown standing beside her. The Regalsnaple stared at her grumpily for a second, then his big round face turned to an impossibly big smile. Then the little king opened his arms wide and hugged Hermione. All the other Regalsnapples and Luna all clapped and cheered.

“This is wonderful, Hermione. You are an honorary Regalsnapple now!” the Regalsnapple hugging Hermione extended his hug to Luna who joined. The Regalsnaples on the logs cheered even louder.

“Luna?” Hermione asked over the Regalsnaples shoulder.

“Yes?”

“This is all quite ridiculous,” Hermione said with a smile.

“Well, of course it is.” Luna smiled back.

The Regalsnaple ended the hug and looked at Luna.

Luna began to make exaggerated fancy bows from her sitting position to the king, “Your most grand and so incredibly handsome royal highness of the whole entire forest, we are looking for the creature who has been eating all the elk and stealing their antlers. Do you know how we might find it?”

The Regalsnapple with the wand and tall crown before them snorted and pointed his finger at a Regalsnaple sitting on the bench with a pair of fake glasses made out of twigs on and motioned him to come forward. The Regalsnapple on the bench jumped off the log and walked over. He bowed and motioned Hermione and Luna to follow him.

Luna bowed so her head touched the ground, “Oh thank you, your royal highness, you humble me with both your kindness and most excellent cape.”

The king Regalsnapple laughed and swooshed with his cape. The two stood up.

“Don’t forget to bow to the king, Hermione.” Luna whispered, “and make sure it’s ridiculous.”

“Of course,” Hermione said somewhat immured.

Hermione tried to bow as deep as she possibly could but accidentally swung her upper body down so fast she almost fell. The Regalsnaples began laughing loudly all over again. Luna, Hermione, and their guide waved goodbye while laughing fondly as they departed.

As Hermione and Luna walked behind their new guide, Luna cast her spell to turn their white dresses into school girl uniforms with black shirts and red plaid skirts.

“I’m not very good at turning the dresses back into normal clothes. But the spell will wear off in a couple of hours. I think this is better for walking through a forest in those long dresses in the meantime.” Luna said with a playful skip in her step.

“What about my shoes?”

“You don’t want to offend our guide, do you?”

“I have to say, Luna, The Regalsnaples don’t seem to be the type to be offended easy. It all seemed like a big joke to them.”

“Of course it was, but they are very sensitive about the things they will joke about. They won’t joke about shoes for one, they think they are strange in the wrong way. Regalsnaples have a very strange code of etiquette if you ask me, but all about silliness and fun. I happen to think people could learn a lot from them.”

Hermione found it funny to hear Luna refer to someone else as silly or strange.

“So they can use magic like witches and wizards? That’s very impressive.”

“What do you mean?” Luna asked very serenely while watching her step.

“The King had a wand.”

“That wasn’t a wand. That was the king’s most favourite stick. I’ve never heard of a Regalsnaple being able to cast spells.”

Chapter 6: Magizoology

“Hermione, why were you at Hagrid’s hut?” Luna looked at Hermonie with her dreamy eyes.

“I wanted to talk to Hagrid about everything,” Hermione said as she continued to walk down the path in her bare feet. The two witches had lit their wands now that the sun had gone down and The Regalsnaple was leading them deeper into the dark misty forest.

“That makes sense, Hagrid is a good listener. He also gives good advice too. I find he has a way with people.”

“If you don’t my saying, you seem to be similarly good with people, Luna.”

This made Luna look at her with a delighted smile.

“That’s nice of you to say, Hermione. I’ve been told I’m a comfort to be around by some people. But then again, others have called me names so it’s really a matter of debate.” Luna said with a smile as she looked deeper down the path.

“Well, those people are gits. Without you, I don’t think we would have won the war.”

Luna looked at Hermonie somewhat surprised, “Did you say ‘git’?”

“Oh, I guess I did.”

“You must be spending a lot more time with, Ron Weasley. I hear he is your boyfriend now.”

Hermione smiled, what a strange thing to hear. She had known Ron for years and wanted to be together with him for quite a while now, but it sounded strange to hear.

“Yes, he is. Ron is my boyfriend.” Stranger to say.

“Well that’s good, he seems to make you very happy.”

“How can you tell?”

“You smile when you think about him. I think everyone could use someone to make them happier right now.” Luna looked down at the ground and smiled.

“What about you? Has anyone special told you you're a comfort to be around recently, then?”

“Well, there was this one boy at the ministry. He was very nice and he was fascinated by Nargles. He followed me around the whole day trying to help me find an internship. He said he hoped to see me again soon.”

“Are you going to? Try to see him again?”

Luna’s smile faded and her eyes wandered “I- Well, he said he’d like to. I think I’d like to… But-“

Luna seemed puzzled and not sure how to respond. Despite not being very close friends, Hermione hadn’t seen Luna so uncertain before. In her own very subtle way, Luna was very confident in herself, as far as Hermione knew.

“He must be very interesting to make you so unsure of yourself.”

“I guess. Maybe I will go back and see him once Hagrid gets back.”

“I think that would be a good idea, Luna. Everyone could use someone to make them happier right now.” Hermione bumped shoulders with Luna playfully. Luna looked up and smiled.

“Thank you, Hermione.” Luna held Hermione’s hand for a moment.

She let go and kept walking with a smile. Hermione felt a warmth, she felt good that she could help Luna in this small way. Whether she knew it or not, she was helping Hermione too.

Hermione looked at her feet, “I went to my-“

The Regalsnaple snorted and waved for the two to get down. The two dropped onto their hands and knees immediately. A loud thumping could be heard in the ground. Like footsteps. The three scrambled behind a large tree trunk and the two girls put their wand lights out. They waited, quietly.

All three peaked out from behind the tree to see two trolls walking by while carrying an elk corpse. The trolls looked equally as ugly and giant as the one Ron and Harry saved Hermione from in their first year. As one of the trolls took a big disgusting bite out of the elk carcass Hermione noticed it was missing its antlers.

“Oh no, it was only trolls?” Luna whispered rather woefully.

“I don’t think so” Hermione whispered. “The elk are still missing their antlers. I’ve read about trolls, they don’t collect specific parts from their food unless it helps them in the moment. The trolls and other creatures in the forest may be eating them but not taking their antlers.”

“Then they are probably not the ones killing them all,” Luna said with some enthusiasm.

The trio waited for the trolls to wander past before proceeding past. They made their way down the path into the dark. The Regalsnaple stopped and scratched his head. It seemed they have reached the end of their path.

“I think whatever he was leading us to was supposed to be here,” Hermione said.

Luna grabbed her wand with both hands, “Let’s see where we need to go next. _Appare Vestigium_!” Luna blew into one end of her wand and spun in a circle creating a ring of gold dust. A number of footsteps appeared on the ground. A great number in fact. Most were hooves that seemed to be running in circles but little else.

“Whatever was chasing this elk must have been flying. No tracks on the ground.” Luna moved around the dust with her hands extending, an image of the elk appeared in full sprint.

Hermione started to look around and noticed a series of airborne tracks that looked like insect wings. “Luna, I think I found your creature.”

Luna turned to see the tracks with great excitement. “Oh, good. Let's follow them, why don’t we?”

As Luna and Hermione began to follow them deeper into the forest the, Regalsnaple huffed, waved, then vanished. “Regalsnaple’s are brilliant, Luna.”

“I’m glad you think so. You should tell the next one you see.”

Chapter 7: Into Madness

After several minutes of following the trail in silence, as the two did not want to be ambushed by trolls or something else equally as dangerous. Eventually, they came to see the flicker of a fire off in the distance. Slowly, the two approached, wands drawn. The fire was concealed by a hedge of bushes and a few trees. The two continued on, slowly, right up to the hedge and peered through.

At the fire was a large number of antlers. An incredibly large number of antlers, so many that there were multiple piles of them at least 3 feet tall off the ground.

“Do you see what did this anywhere?” Whispered Hermione as quietly as she could.

“No, but this is certainly their den.”

Seeing no obvious threat, the two nodded at each other and cautiously stepped out into the firelight with wands raised. After looking all over with no sign of a threat the two relaxed.

“What do you think it is?” Hermione wasn’t sure what to make of this. She had never heard of a creature like this in all the books she had read.

“Well, I haven’t seen anything remove antlers after making a kill, especially not anything that flies with insect withs. But I certainly know the creatures in this forest that would have a den. There are wolves, a Hippogriff that’s been run out of it’s heard, and I think Hagrid said there are Blood-Sucking BugBears in the forest-“

There was a sudden very loud roar from behind the two.

“Blood-Sucking BugBear!” Luna yelled.

Out of the bush a giant bear-like creature with large spines coming out of its neck and back came storming in. It roared again displaying its many fanged teeth and wicked long tongue. The beast looked like a very large, very thin and bony bear with long front legs that held it’s enormous upper body up higher then it’s back end. Its hands were thinner but it’s three black claws were much, much bigger.

Hermione and Luna both started shooting off stunning spells of blue light at the beast, but they didn’t seem to do much more than make it mad. The Bugbear roared again and lumbered forward slowly against the onslaught of magic.

“ _Incarcerous_!”

Luna shouted as magic spilled from the end of her wand and wrapping around the Bugbear’s front legs. The Bugbear’s front half dropped and slammed into the ground. The Bugbear spat it’s long tongue out at Luna with intense speed which she barely managed to duck under. This broke her concentration and the Bugbear broke free of the spell. It roared and swatted at Luna who’s wand sprouted a quick circle of blue magic between her and the paw. It wasn’t enough to prevent Luna from being knocked off her feet.

As Luna flew through the air Hermione shouted " _Impedimenta_!" Luna froze in midair before she flew full force into the nearby tree and began slowly floating to the ground.

“ _Locomotor Mortis_!”

Hermione cast at the Bugbear who was suddenly stuck standing very straight. The Bugbear tried shooting its tongue out at lightning speed again but Hermione managed to flick her wand in time.

“ _Langlock_ ”.

Just before the tongue reached Hermione it circled back and shot into the Bugbear’s month and it whined in distress. Hermione pointed her wand and the tree next to the Bugbear and the bottom of the tree exploded in a fiery orange light. The tree fell on the massive bear, pinning it, it roared again. 

“Ugh, _silencio_.”Just like that, the Bugbear was silent.

“Wow, Hermione,” Luna said as she slowly stood up slowly.

“Are you ok, Luna?” Hermione rushed over to help Luna up.

“Yes, I think I am. You’re a very impressive witch.”

“Thank you.” Hermione summoned Luna’s wand from beside the Bugbear to her.

The two watched the Bugbear thrash it’s head around angrily under the tree trunk as its legs were still locked strait and its tongue was still attached to the top of its mouth.

“Usually it would have calmed down by now. I think it might be cursed.” Luna points her wand at the angry creature and spun her wand in the air a couple of times.

Suddenly the bear slowed it’s movements and huffed with exhaustion. “During the battle some of the Death Eaters came into the forest and tried to curse the creatures into attacking the school. Hagrid told me had to wrestle with a dog called ‘Fluffy’ before he could do the counter curse a couple of days ago.”

Luna then waved her wand a couple more times and the bear’s legs and tongue began working normally. Then with a swish and a flick, the tree floated off of the Bugbear. The great creature got up, turned and limped away from the two witches.

Luna sat down beside the fire. Hermione did this too.

“Are you hurt?”

“No, but I have to say, I’m quite disappointed,” Luna said with gloom.

“I thought there would be a rare and interesting creature at the end of this. It was probably just fairies that collected the antlers. I thought it might have been a Umgubular Slashkilter or even a Gulping Plimpy. But it was just a Bugbear. I would really have liked to have proven something that is thought to be not real actually does exist. But maybe you’re right, Hermione. Maybe some things simply don’t exist.” Luna looked down at her hands in her lap.

“And maybe sometimes things can’t be passed off as not real because you didn’t read about it in a book." Luna looked at Hermione curiously who pointed up, "Look.”

As Luna looked up she gasped. The giant tree above them was utterly infested with mistletoe. And around the mistletoe were creatures with insect wings, sex arms with large hands and one of them was no bigger than your hand. Their translucent skin seemed to glimmer like each one was a group of fireflies in the warm light of the fire and might be impossible to see otherwise. Three of them were buzzing in on rapidly flapping wings carrying an antler, then dropped in one of the piles in front of Luna and Hermione then silently flying back into the forest or landing jin one of the mistletoe vines to relax their wings.

“Luna, are those…?”

“Nargles! It’s Nargles! They love mistletoe. I didn’t know that fire made them glitter like that.” Luna said with glee. “I always wondered why I would lose things more often on the grounds around the forest.”

“A giant mistletoe tree filled with Nargles deep in the forbidden forest? I guess you were right Luna, about a lot of things.”

Hermione looked down at Luna who was staring at her and before Hermione could react, Luna had leaned over…

Chapter 8: At the End of the Trail

Luna and Hermione had walked for about an hour now and could see the castle lights past the tree-line and their shining wands.

“Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to find them. Your parents aren’t trying to hide from you. They could have very well moved next door.” Luna said with her serenely.

“I suppose.”

Hermione had always thought Luna was the type of person who had always struck anyone she met as odd, maybe except for Harry it seemed. She was beginning to understand why Harry considered Luna such a good friend. She seemed to have a gift for knowing exactly what to say.

“I can always help you look once Hagrid gets back. We did find out about the Bugbear and discovered the Nargle tree together.”

“We are pretty good at finding things. After we find them maybe we can go to the ministry to find that boy you were talking about.”

This made Luna’s smile grow wider. Hagrid’s hut came into view and to Hermione’s surprise, Hagrid was sitting at his fire outside his cabin.

“Hagrid!” Hermione shouted and ran to him.

Hagrid was startled, to say the least. He did not expect to see anyone come out of the forbidden forest at this time of night. Especially not Hermione dressed in a red plaid schoolgirl dress.

“Hermione? What are doin’ here?”

Hermione ran into Hagrid and hugged him as tight as she could.

“Well, this is a great surprise. Is ev’rythin’ alright?” Hermione released Hagrid and wiped a tear swelling in her eye.

“Yes, she helped me sort out a problem in the woods,” Luna said as she approached from the treeline.

“Hello to yeh too, Luna. What was the matter?”

“There was a Bugbear in the woods killing a lot of elks. It had been cursed by a Death Eater back in the battle but we helped it.” Luna explained.

“Blimey, a Blood-Suckin’ Bugbear? Near here?” Hagrid was looking quite alarmed under his beard.

“No, it was about an hour northwest. The Regalsnaples showed us how to find it. It won’t be coming back this way. Hermione, gave it quite the thrashing.”

“Er, musta bin quite a journey you two ‘ad. Shouldn’ be so worried I suppose. You two are great witches after all.” Hagrid seemed satisfied with the outcome and looked much more relaxed.

Luna smiled “I’ll go put the kettle on.” She walked into Hagrid’s Hut.

“Hermione, is ev’rythin’ alright with yeh?” Hagrid asked with concern.

“I was upset about everything that has happened. In the war I mean. I suppose you could say I was having a bad day and I came to see you. You see, I saw this couple walking on the street in London and they looked very similar to my Mum and Dad. It all hit me right then and there. So I went to return my parent's memories and found they had moved somewhere. I’m not sure where they are now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I wasn’ here. Grawp was having some problems getting alon’ with the other kids.” Hagrid said. “Well, if there is anyone is goin’ teh be able to find them, you surely can.”

Hermione smiled at this repeated sentiment. Did everyone consider her to have this uncanny ability to find things?

“Thank you, Hagrid. Luna said she is going to help me.”

“Well, that’s good.” Hagrid looked to see Luna wasn’t around and lowered his voice. “If I’m being honest, the girl has bin a bit of a ‘ead scratcher to me. Goin’ on about Heliopaths and Wrackspurts and the like. Brillan’ witch, brillian’. But some of her ideas are a little more than I’m able to und’rtand.”

“Yes, me too. But she has surprised me more than once today.”

Hermione walked to the hut to go help Luna with the tea.

“Hermione?” She turned to look back at Hagrid. “Where are yer shoes?”

Hermione had almost forgotten she wasn’t wearing shoes. She looked down at her feet, which were covered in mud. They were a little sore and cold but hadn't been cut by rocks or twigs as she thought might have happened. Hermione looked into the hut to see Luna checking Fang’s mouth, nearly sticking her head in between his jaws.

Hermione looked back at Hagrid. “Hagrid, I couldn’t have possibly met the King of the Regalsnaples with them on!”


End file.
